


Giving Up on You

by orphan_account



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Break Up, Damen didn’t kill Auguste, Lamen Week, Lamen Week 2020, M/M, Past Abuse, also Damen and Laurent are the same age, but Auguste is still dead sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:35:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24936910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Lamen Week - Day 7 : AngstBeing sixteen and in love was complicatedIt was even more when you had the future of a nation between your hands.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Kudos: 16
Collections: Lamen Week 2020





	Giving Up on You

Being sixteen and in love was complicated

It was even more when you had the future of a nation between your hands. 

Laurent couldn’t make any decision lightly, for the repercussions of each of his actions could be disastrous for his country, in the long run. He had known that even since he was a child, and it was only truer now that he was the Crown Prince. 

So before he told Damen he loved him, he had really thought it true. He had considered every outcome he could possibly think of and had came to the conclusion that a relationship with him couldn’t hurt his country, not as long as it was kept a secret ; Damen and him would simply enjoy their time together for as long as it would last, and then, when they’d be old enough, they’d part ways to marry the women that would become their queens. It was a good plan ; he’d get to have Damen, if only Damen wanted him, but he’d also have his kingdom. Besides, the Crown Prince of Akielos and himself having a good relationship would only be beneficial to their respective countries.

So he had started courting Damen during his annual stay in Vere. It was awkward and messy, but they had ended up kissing on the day of Damen’s departure and all of Laurent’s doubts had disappeared when he had felt Damen’s lips on his. 

It had been last year, the year of Laurent’s fifteenth birthday. 

Now, Damen was back, determined to spend as much time as he could with Laurent, to do every single thing he’d told Laurent he’d do when they’d finally see each other in the heated letters they exchanged all year long.

But it couldn’t happen. 

_ They _ couldn’t happen. Laurent had been wrong and he’d realized it.

It was impossible for them to keep such a relationship secret, and it was too much of a risk for both of them and their kingdoms to be open about their love. 

So he had to put an end to all of this. 

But before that… before that, he could let Damen into his bed,  _ just once _ .

…

They were walking around the garden, as alone as they could be with their guards a few feet apart, when Laurent stopped and said. “Damianos, we have to talk.”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing,” Damen said with a playful smile. 

It was so beautiful, his smile...

“I’m serious.” 

Laurent’s voice was cold as ice and he was standing with his back straight, arms crossed on his chest and gaze hard and unreadable. Damen lost his smile. “What is it, sweetheart?”

_ Don’t call me that, please, don’t make it harder than it already is _ , Laurent wanted to beg. 

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your ‘sweetheart’”

“Are you not? You weren’t saying the same thing last night.”

“Last night meant nothing.”

_ No it did not. It meant everything. It was so perfect, so much better than I was led to believe sex could be.  _

“It didn’t mean nothing to me,” Damen swallowed. “Laurent…” He reached out with his arm to touch Laurent’s face, but he was pushed away.

_ Stop being so… you. Please Damen, please be mean to me, please make it easy.  _

“Don’t. I don’t want you to touch me ever again.”

Damen froze, his hand still in the hair and a shocked expression on his face. 

He probably wasn’t used to rejection. He was a prince after all. And he was  _ perfect _ . Why would anyone ever reject him?

“Why? Did you not like it? You should have told me, I… I wanted to make it good for you.”

_ It was, Damen. It was so good. I could cry thinking about how good it felt, to feel you inside me. _

“Well you didn’t. I had such high hopes, you’re said to be a great lover, after all. You gloated about it often enough. I suppose those who say that just didn’t dare tell you the truth. You can’t really tell your prince he’s a poor lover, can you?”

“Good thing I’m not your prince then, you don’t seem to be holding back,” Damen said. He sounded so hurt, it was unbearable. 

The last thing Laurent wanted was to hurt Damen, but it was a necessary evil. He tried not to focus on the sad gleam he could see on Damen’s eyes, and continued “Why would I? I don’t care about bruising your ego.”

“Don’t you? People tend to care about hurting people they love,” Damen sneered, in an attempt of sarcasm that fell flat. 

Laurent knew what he should say. He knew it. The words were on his lips, ready to be thrown at Damen. But it felt impossible to be hard on him when he looked like  _ that _ , to hurt him even more with every word. 

Yet, Laurent had to. He took a deep breath, and gathered all of his strength to say “But I  _ don’t _ love you, Damianos.”

He even managed to make it sound genuine. The hour he’d spent re-enacting plays he’d seen and read as a child were finally paying off. 

He hated it.

He hated the look of pure betrayal and pain on Damen’s face as he processed his words even more. “But… but in the letters, you… you…”

Damen choked back his tears, and Laurent felt his heart cracking. 

All he wanted was to hold Damen in his arms and tell him it was just a bunch of lies, that he loved him, that their night together had been incredible, that he wanted nothing more than to be with him.

But he was a prince, and had to act as such. 

Vere came first. It didn’t matter if he had a broken heart, as long as he could sit on the throne and do his duty to his people. 

“I lied. Nothing I said in those letters was true. I was just trying to get you to be comfortable enough to fuck me. Did you really think I could fall in love with a barbarian like you? How naive you are.”

“So this whole time, it was all about sex? And now that you’ve got what you wanted you’re what, breaking up with me?” 

He sounded more angry than hurt now, and Laurent thanked the Gods for that. Anger, he could handle. 

“I can’t break up if we’ve never been together. You were never my  _ boyfriend _ or anything, Damianos. You never  _ mattered _ . I just wanted your cock.”

It was so hard to say all of that. So hard to keep his voice sounding cold and his face looking unbothered, to pretend like he meant it.

So hard to give up on the one person that had made him feel genuinely safe and happy since Auguste died.

“I see your courtiers are right, then. You’re nothing more than a stone cold bitch.”

“And you’re a pathetic, emotional excuse for a prince. Akielos is on the road to ruin with a future king like you.”

“Under my reign, Akielos will be more glorious than it has ever been and that Vere could ever be with a second-choice as king.”

That was a low blow. 

The intensity of the words knocked the air out of Laurent’s chest. He deserved it, he knew he did, but the subtle mention to Auguste was so  _ painful _ , and the fact that it came after all of this, it was unbearable. 

But not as unbearable as the sight of Damen walking away from his.

Is that what heartbreak feels like?

…

“Laurent, you asked to see me?”

Uncle was sitting on the throne as if he belonged there, with the presence of a king. 

“Yes, Uncle,” Laurent said, keeping his gaze down.

Technically, he didn’t have to look down, he outranked his uncle, but he pleased the Regent to play king and Laurent would rather not do anything to irritate him.

“Well, come here,” the Regent said, reaching out with one of his ringed hands to encourage Laurent to approach him.

Laurent did. He came close enough that his uncle could put his hand on his shoulder. What had once been a comforting gesture now made him sick to his stomach. “What do you have to tell me, nephew?” Uncle asked with this honeyed voice that made Laurent shiver. 

“I did as you said. I ended my relationship with Damianos,” Laurent said, trying to keep his voice as control as he could. It would make Uncle too smug if Laurent let his voice tremble, if he showed how affected he was by all of this. 

A self-satisfied smirk grew on his uncle’s lips. Laurent wanted to punch it off his face. 

“Good boy,” the Regent congratulated, stroking Laurent’s cheek with the back of his hand. His rings were cold against the warm skin.

Laurent wished his body hadn’t instinctively leaned in the touch. He wished he didn’t crave his uncle’s validation, even after all of that happened.

_ Especially _ , after all that happened. 

“You know that I did it for your own good, right? I’d never do anything to hurt you. On the contrary, I want to _protect_ _you_ from getting hurt, as you would inevitably be if you had kept this _relationship_ going. Damianos couldn’t take care of you, not like I do. There just isn’t _anyone_ who could take care of you as well as I do, my Laurent. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, Uncle.”


End file.
